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Kaitlyn Houseman

As the Marketing Specialist at GroupOne Health Source, Kaitlyn leverages the company's experience in revenue cycle management and healthcare IT to bring readers expert advice on all things healthcare practice management. Since joining the sales and marketing division at GroupOne, Kaitlyn has been able to identify the top concerns of healthcare professionals and develop content that provides answers and insights into healthcare policy, patient pay strategies, EHR optimization, and medical coding and billing.

Author's Posts

Disruption by technology has affected more industries than it has left alone, and many involve things you do and use every day. For example, Facebook Messenger disrupted SMS messaging, Amazon disrupted eBooks, and Uber disrupted the taxi industry. Healthcare is no exception, experiencing disruption in the form of telemedicine, new devices, and new care delivery paradigms.

Remember in 2012 when CMS issued a rule requiring healthcare providers who discover past overpayments by Medicare or Medicaid to refund it within 60 days or risk the overpayment being labeled as a false claim? Well the final rule was published by CMS just last month (February). Here's what you need to know about the Medicare Overpayment Final Rule.

It's been several months since the ICD-10 transition deadline, but that doesn't mean that every practice and hospital is fluent in ICD-10 just yet. With the number of codes increasing considerably from ICD-9 to ICD-10, and with longer codes that include far more specificity, it will take time for ICD-10 codes to become free-flowing and automatic, even among experienced coders.

Managing accounts receivable (AR) is challenging, and will be even more complicated as more people obtain coverage under high-deductible healthcare plans. Outstanding balances are growing, and collecting these balances is essential when it comes to increasing your practice's cash flow.

Referrals offer a connection a little more solid than a new patient who finds you via Google search or in the Yellow Pages. When you get a word-of-mouth referral, your existing patient is acting as a "salesperson," and it costs you very little compared to the cost of advertising your practice. Increasing the number of referrals from patients can help fill your schedule and in turn grow your practice.

Healthcare is ever-changing. One advancement, telehealth, is one of the hottest trends in healthcare and technology right now. With the shortage of physicians, increase of chronic conditions, and the rising costs of healthcare, telehealth is becoming more necessary and useful than ever.

The healthcare industry is facing growing pains, especially where technology is concerned. We recently caught up with Lee Farabaugh, Chief Innovation Officer and EVP of Professional Services for PointClear Solutions to get her advice on what providers should be talking to their software vendors about.

Declining reimbursement is one of the biggest challenges physicians face today. Ask any physician and they will tell you about the daily struggle of getting paid for their services. However, many physicians are leaving a significant amount of money on the table by undercoding.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) extended the attestation deadline for the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs to Friday,March 11, 2016 at 11:59 p.m. ET, from the original deadline of Monday, February 29.

Developing a clear strategy for managing accounts receivable (A/R) is a step that isn't easy, but that has significant, noticeable payoff. When a medical practice doesn't track A/R consistently, the average number of days accounts spend in A/R increases, which means the practice is not collecting what it is owed as efficiently as it could be.

Preventing claim errors has always been an ongoing effort for healthcare facilities. Today, more than ever, providers are having a harder time getting paid for their services. In fact, 40% of physicians plan on focusing more on improving the billing and collections process over the next year1. Understanding the top causes of recurring claim errors is a good place to start if you are planning on revamping your RCM processes for better results.

As our list of the top 5 challenges for 2016 underlines, practices will need to navigate some tough obstacles in 2016. These include value based reimbursement, collecting co-pays and deductibles, and administrative burdens on physicians.

While many physicians had a sigh of relief when CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt announced last Monday that the end of the meaningful use program is near, many were left hanging with unanswered questions as to what is next. On Tuesday, CMS posted an update to Slavitt's comments that outlines the transition and what it means for doctors and hospitals.